The Great Wall
Trip Start
Apr 07, 2012
1
76
136
Trip End
Nov 14, 2012
Where I stayed
Beijing, China
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Today it was the Great Wall of China tour
As per normal the guide and bus turned up late (What is it with these people, do they work on a different time scale as the rest of us?
Anyway, they did turn up, eventually, then it was various stops round Beijing picking up the rest of the people
We set off for an hour or more journey, with a stop to look at a tomb, someone from the Ming dynasty
It was interesting, down about a hundred or so feet, a lot had been damaged by water over time, but the thrones were there, his, the empress, and his favourite concubine (he sat in the middle, I guess to keep 'em apart)
There were several really large red boxes down there, they were their coffins, they contained their bodies and ‘treasure', a lot had gone missing over time, a lot of the paper and cloth had disintegrated as well
The Chinese don’t visit a tomb unless its family, so they throw money in to show their respects and so the spirit doesn’t come after them, there was quite a pile of cash there, don’t know who gets to keep or collect it, I threw a few Yuan in, may as well try to make a new mate, don’t need any more enemies this trip
Then it was back on the bus and a trip to the jade shop, which was interesting (from my point of view)
They showed us how to distinguish between fake and real, its light and sound that does it, you hold it up to the light, you can see the imperfections in the jade, the glass is perfect, the marble, the same, the sound is lower with glass and marble, the jade has a more musical quality to it and a higher pitch
I bought a real piece for Anne, not a deep green piece, but sort of creamish white (at least I know its real this time)
They had some really nice pieces there, the biggest was a boat that was over 5 feet long and a really deep dark green, really nice, there were other carvings in jade, all really nice, but way out of my price range (and I wouldn’t want to lug them round
It was back on the bus, we were really going to the wall this time
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The Great Wall
We arrived, we parked up and saw it up in the mountains, our guide said we could walk to it in 20 minutes, I thought this was really stretching it, so we got the cable car, even that took 10 minutes to get up there
It did stretch for miles in both directions, and steps, there was hundreds of them, I found them pretty hard going, but as usual, we persevered, it was a lot hot, sweaty walk, up and down, I have no idea how the troops got on with all their armour and equipment, but I wouldn’t have fancied doing it
There are lots of ‘fort’ that you can walk between, the steps aren’t very even, but the scenery was worth looking at, but I couldn’t see defending t5his wall being an easy task, or attacking it
I don’t know if they had guns on the wall, but I did see cannon encased in concrete, it looked about a 2 pounder
It was a shame it was so hazy, and the humidity was high
I walked between a couple of forts and sweated bucket loads, Seamus just ploughed on
We spent a couple of hours here, just walking up and down these steps and stairs, and then we got the toboggan down, which was fun
It was back on the bus for our next stop, Mr Tea
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Mr Tea
This was just a place the guide wanted us to go to, I think she got a commission on anything bought (came unstuck with our lot)
They made various small pots of tea, various kinds, we all got a taste of them, but all very well done, with plenty of showmanship, they showed us a cake of tea, very compressed, but it was vintage, the older the better with magic properties, a cure all, but at 40 quid there weren’t any takers, they did the Chinese version of a tea ceremony, all very nice, but a bit boring,
That finished and we got out of there, the guide was a bit miffed we didn’t buy anything; they didn’t have any PG tips or Tetley’s, so there were no buyers
We got back to the hostel about 7 ish, it was a quick shower then out again, this time it was the bight market
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The night market
It was another trip out on the subway, but it was so simple, it’s well laid out and as long as you have a rough idea where you want to go, it’s a doddle
We got there, a lot was closed, but a few stall were open, and with various things on sticks, worms, centipedes, live scorpions, star fish, sea horses, lizards, silk worm pupae, water bugs, crickets, locusts, bowls of dog, cow intestine, chicken feet, there was other stuff I didn’t recognise there as well
I settled for 2 worms, deep fried and dipped in chilli, weren’t bad, just crunchy, then I had noodle soup, eating noodles with chopsticks is quite an achievement I think
It was just wandering about then, looking and snapping photos
going back out there tonight, there should be even more open then
( the little bear has has had his photo taken a lot on our travelshe doesnt always get posted, but he appears a lot, I'll be uploading more of his travels )
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Comments
Looks like u had a great day and i hope your tours are more organised in future
Good selection of pictures.
We could hardly move when we visited the wall - thousands of people pushing and shoving.
As you mentioned it is difficult to climb the stone stairs.
Our guide informed us that many people were buried within the wall.
If a worker died during the construction they just carried on and dropped the body into middle part and continued to fill it with rubble etc.
Also while we were there a security van pulled up near one of the pay points and 4 armed guards jumped out of the back. They loaded two heavy boxes and sped off again
I guess they make a small fortune from the tourists.
Some people were visiting from remote areas and they wanted their photo taken with us.
Another good blod, Del- great pictures- I see a seahorse amongst the bugs- they had to be taught to stop collecting too many as the seahorses were being decimated, so they apparently run it more conservation wise, now.
One look at those stairs was enough- climbing them- well done mate.
How many people noticed the bear and who put it there? You?
The food selection at the end was pretty gruesome. I had to miss my supper after seeing this. I'll have to remember to read your blogs after I've eaten in the future.